I would like to be fit. Those who
have seen me, can easily say I am obese, over weight. Still I am a
habitual walker. Everyday walking in a single place is boring. So I
would like to change this by trekking 3 - 4 hours on Saturdays, Whenever possible, with whichever group, I enjoy this. I
also enjoy the company of youngsters. To make them comfortable, I sing
and dance. Low-expenses, not disturbing family are other priorities.
Before this, I had trekked with BTC – Bangalore Trekking Club continuously for
3 weeks. This week I could not register in time. I decided to go
on a very popular trek , even if I had to be alone- Sivagange.
This is the 3rd time I am going over last 10 years. I
knew it would stretch me out but I knew it would not be difficult. I
called my young friend, Satish who gladly accepted to join.
Two of us started by a
train, 56515 Hubli passenger. Train departed exactly at 7:45 AM and
we reached Dabbaspete by 9:15. We took a shared
auto to the Sivange temple. The distance was 6 KMs
and shared autos take Rs.20/- per person. This is the general mode
of transport. Once we reached there apart from the packed sandwiches, we
ate tatte(plate) idly, vada and also packed ‘Rice
Bath’.
It starts with a Gangadareshweshwara temple.
There are around 500 steps to reach there. To the side of the temple, a
trail starts. 75% of the total trekking distance has uneven steps .
There are many shops which sells Juice, buttermilk, churmuri,
biscuits, etc, every half-a-kilometer. This total trail is around 2.5 KM
one way.
The view was very good. We could see clouds at the top of the
hill. Terrain was mostly rocky and some places are quite tough to climb.
There were just few meters of walking. Most of it was
climbing. Since this was a Saturday, there were many groups, and families
who had visited. Surprisingly a few love-birds/couples were also
trekking.. Since we were the only two, we were pretty fast. Satish
is a strong man and is very experienced in trekking. We had gone on
quite a few treks together earlier too.
There was a big statue of Siva and parvati.
That is the last part of the trek. This is the most
challenging part. The pathway was steep and narrow had a good railing
support. One major problem here is the menace of monkeys.
There are hundreds of them. They were very daring. I had
heard that in the previous week, it had taken a purse with two mobiles and even
though they tricked to get the two mobiles back, the bag and more than a thousand
rupees were lost. So we were very careful. Even then, one monkey
climbed on the bag pack of Satish. He was very
courageous and did not give the bag at all. I could see them opening zips
easily and also even peeping into packets. We took multiple breaks and
finally reached the top. We had leave to our bags in a make-shift
shop to protect them from monkey
he top has a Nandi, a bull and Giri
Gandareswara temple.
The view was very good. Could see many
more hills, a big water body, Tiny vehicles moving and a good view of Sivagange town.
Like many hills there is a large flat surface at the top, it was
very windy and also there were a lot of bushes/greens. The others side had two
light poles. It seems that they play a game to keep a coin at the top..
it is tough since there is a forceful wind blowing. They have put
up a railing all around. We took around 2 hours to reach to the top.
We started at 10:25 and reached the top at around 12:30.
After spending a few mins there, we started climbing down. This is
equally tough. With fewer breaks, we climbed down. We took a break,
ate the packed Rice Bath and we could touch down by 2:30.
We took the shared auto-rickshaws again. This time we took a KSRTC bus to
go back to Bangalore. It was a very simple and meaningful trek.
Hope to make many more memories like this!
Happy to be part of making such memories... :)
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